[Community-service] Being turned away.

[Serena Cucco]

On 4/2/13, Chris Parsons <christine-parsons at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I was in National Honor Society in high school, and I needed to do a certain
>
> number of volunteer hours. We have a no-kill animal shelter not five minutes
>
> from my house, and I love animals, so I thought that this would be perfect.
>
> The school bus also dropped kids off there every day to walk the dogs, so
> there wouldn't even be any transportation difficulties.
>
> But when my mom called them and told them I wanted to volunteer, and that I
>
> am blind, the man she talked to said that I couldn't because of insurance
> reasons and because "she wouldn't know when the cats were about to fight, so
>
> she might get scratched."
>
> For some reason that I no longer remember, both Mom and I, usually strong
> advocates, let it go, and I ended up finding a really awesome opportunity to
>
> help a young blind student in one of our local elementary schools with her
> reading, which eventually turned into helping the entire class. But I
> learned a lot from that experience, even if I didn't realize the lessons
> until years later.
>
> In hindsight, I should definitely have been the one to handle the situation
>
> from start to finish instead of letting my Mom make the call. My mom has
> always been a huge advocate for me, and she knows quite a bit about what a
> blind person can do, but as a high school student and the person who would
> ultimately be doing the  volunteering, I could have listened to the man's
> concerns and then explained how I would handle them.
>
> Just as a cool final note, my sister and I both now volunteer at this
> shelter once a week with the cats, and no one seems to have an issue with us
>
> getting scratched or slipping on the floor after it's been mopped or
> anything.
>
> Chris
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Darian Smith
> Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2013 4:13 PM
> To: Community Service Discussion List
> Subject: [Community-service] Being turned away.
>
> Hi all,
>    have you ever been turned down from  doing some sort of service
> project because of your blindness? if so what happened? what was the
> reasoning  and how did you deal with it?
>
> --
> Darian Smith
>
>
> Text the word BLIND to 85944 to donate $10 to the NFB Imagination Fund
> via your phone bill.
>
> The time is now to eliminate Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities
>
> http://www.nfb.org/fairwages
>
>
> “We know not of our future, but we know of our past. A past that is
> made up of our ancestor’s Dreams, their stories and hopes.
> These sights once seen, sounds heard and emotions felt are now our
> knowledge. The knowledge that guides us to this very moment…”
> -Darian Smith
>
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Hi All,

Although I haven't ever been turned away from a service project, I was
from a potential internship opportunity.  I was seeking an internship
at a faith-based out-patient substance abuse program.  (before I
started grad school, so not a requirement)  The pastor and his wife
happened to be African-American.  Therefore, I figured they might give
me more of an opportunity, since they were quite familiar with
discrimination and social justice.  The pastor interviewed me and let
me stay for the day to observe the program.  Then, I heard nothing for
abvout a week, so caled to see what was up.  ife called me back to say
there was no space for an intern.  Although there was no way for me to
prove it, I believe she convinced her husband that a blind intern was
a bad idea.  Since I couldn't prove discrimination and wasn't planning
to sue anyone, I let it go and moved on to grad school.

Serena